Mike Tee

Is Dodona 50’ or 57’? - states both in the ad (I thought it was 50’ but not so sure now!)

I thought those owners said it was unsinkable - what a stupid thing to claim about a boat, just asking for trouble.

Its the luck of the draw, but a venomous snake does not always use its venom, often called a dry strike. One theory is that the snake uses its venom to kill prey, and why would it use a precious commodity on something it just wants to deter - a human would be way too big to eat. I've always held the belief that all snakes are venomous and they all have my name in their kill book!!!

I remember it well - sitting in a cafe near Lake Como having what I thought might be my last holiday ever as I counted down the days to going off on my first foreign contract in Libya - best move I ever made!!!!!! Had 20 years working in Africa and Middle East in more countries than I care to remember - actually wanted to forget a few, but it always worked out in the end.

I seem to remember that Wyvern from Leighton Buzzard had one that steered from the front - not a hire craft, but specially built for mild off-shore cruising. (Not mild for a narrowboat!!!)

One of the very real dangers of driving in the Middle East is hitting a camel - being long legged, the front of most vehicles takes out the legs, and the body (and they have a very large one) comes through the windscreen with often fatal results for the occupants.

As previously said, why let them have an unpleasant death, and then be a health hazard in the canals / rivers that somebody has to sort out. Cull them and sell the meat - it really is tasty.

Better than telly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd be wary of mounting it with magnets - too easy for someone to nick while you are asleep. At least make it more time consuming for them to get it away thereby maybe putting them off the effort.

you norty boy eta: bang goes the MBE this year

There was one on The Duck (narrowboat) within the last couple of months with seating like that - can't for the life of me remember the name, but this might jog somebody else - in fact it may have been ABNB - will have a look in case its still on there.

Its probably an optical illusion, but looking at the photo, if all the people stood on the lockside were to stand on the port side of the boat, it would go through!!

‘The Biscuit’ said After a sarky comment on another thread, I felt obliged to resuscitate this one ... The fire extinguishers on a boat are there for one reason only - so the people can get off the burning boat! That's it, end of! I was so sorry to see Ariel burn, but the boat can be refurbished with another interesting chapter in her history. The people are harder to replace ... Nope. Get out, get the wife and the kid(s)/dog(s)/cat(s) out. Then you weigh up if you can put the fire out without killing yourself. Yep. Get off the boat and then think. Do not piss about inside an enclosed space full of smoke and getting hotter! My only disagreement is the thing about running past without fighting the fire ... use the easily grabbable extinguisher on your way past the hot bit! If all you do is bank the flames, it saves weeks in the burns unit ... Get off the damn boat, get everyone/everything that matters off the damn boat, and then consider if you can extinguish the fire with your available resources. I have not cherry picked his comments, only underlined what I find relates mainly to his criticism of my comment. The underlinings can be summed up in two words – Judgement Call. Which is exactly what I said. My first post was in relation to his comment ‘That's it, end of!’ I could have gone right through the scenario – 1) identify nearest clear exit 2) evacuate everybody 3) delegate call to fire services 4) identify fire source 5) evaluate risk………. It goes on, but is as I said, a judgement call which is based on the individuals training and experience. Your initial comment was advice to basically get off the boat and watch it burn. Now you are backtracking to assess actually using the extinguishers. Not quite as clear cut as your initial comment suggested is it?

What you should have done, according to some on here, is got out of the boat as quickly as possible, and stand on the bank waiting for the firemen to find your boat. You wouldn't have been cold though, the burning boat would have kept you warm.

So do I - the hint is in the name 'extinguisher'. Or should it be labelled 'Fire Retardant device to allow you to exit your home and watch it burn'? Common sense has to play a part - if its a raging inferno, sod the 'Extinguisher', just get out - anything else is a judgement call.